Black Lawyer Denied Service at Seattle Hotel
Tacoma attorney Gustave B. Aldrich files a complaint after being refused service at the Hotel Cecil's public dining room.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Seattle—Gustave B. Aldrich, a colored lawyer of Tacoma, claims that the Hotel Cecil has denied him the privilege of eating in its public dining room. He proceeded to the office of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney D. C. Conover, who drew up a complaint charging Clerk John E. Smart, of the Cecil, with 'denying to a citizen the full enjoyment of public accommodations.'
“Charging Clerk John E. Smart, of the Cecil, with 'denying to a citizen the full enjoyment of public accommodations.'”
This incident highlights the pervasive racial segregation in public accommodations that existed in early 20th-century Washington, despite state laws technically guaranteeing equal access. It serves as an early recorded instance of the systemic struggle for civil rights in the Pacific Northwest, long before the major movements of the 1960s.
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